Browse Books by Year

2012 List | 2011 List | 2010 List

Current List In Progress

Click here to see all the titles.

EVERYBODY SEES THE ANTS

Author Information
Author's Last Name: 
King
Author's First Name: 
A.S.
Publisher: 
Little, Brown
Publication Date: 
2011
2013 Nomination (not yet selected): 

Lucky is 15 and surrounded by adults who are busy making a mess out of own their lives. Lucky watches all this with humor and patience. He even has a bully on his tail. His preferred escape route from all this is imaginary conversations with his grandfather who has long been listed as MIA in Vietnam. The reader will be brought along on this journey, alternating between laughing out loud and cringing at the reality of Lucky's life. This book is a wonderful reminder that it is hard growing up. Fourteen and Up. Kathie Weinberg

In a quirky and poignant story of self-discovery, fifteen-year-old Lucky Linderman finds his inner power and learns to face family issues at home and bullying at school.

Comments

Meeting Notes for October

by ladamson - 10/19/2011 - 10:29am

Meeting Notes for October 14:

Positive Comments:

  • This believable portrayal of the interaction between a bully and the child bullied shows how that child would react.
  • The child’s frustration clearly shows about both the bully and his parents who do not help him.
  • This accessible story reveals that adults often interpret a child’s need for simple parenting as depression and the solution as drugs for their child rather than their attention.
  • Lucky as well as his mother and other adults are interesting and well-developed.
  • Lucky is able to grasp various aspects of his aunt’s life and to understand her better.

Concerns:

  • The protagonist has objects show up in his dream and then in his hands. Why he has these objects remains unclear.
  • The sessions between Lucky and his missing-in-action grandfather seem almost irrelevant to the story and do not offer Lucky’s character much development. Some readers even skim these sections.
  •